Within the printing and photocopying industries there has been a great need for various types of sheet handling equipment, including sorting apparatus. Numerous sorters, created in an attempt to meet that need, have been disclosed in issued patents.
Commonly assigned patents, Fagan et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,906) and Greene et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,944,217), disclose two types of paper sheet sorting and collating devices having various conveyor belt systems and deflecting mechanisms. Fagan et al. ('906) discloses a sorting and collating apparatus, wherein the sheets travel upon a conveyor belt system across the apparatus from a feed source. The sheets then travel downward until they are deflected by triangular deflector teeth, which extend out from within the vertical sheet conveyor, into one of several awaiting vertically-indexed, inclined trays. Greene et al. ('217) discloses a tower type sorting and collating apparatus incorporating the features described and claimed in EMF Corporation (British Patent No. 1,494,325), wherein the sheets travel across the apparatus and then travel upward until they are deflected by one of several awaiting deflectors, which extend out from within the vertical conveyor, into one of several awaiting vertically-indexed, horizontal trays. A mass airflow is used in each of these disclosures to hold the sheets against the conveyor system.
Fornell et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 2,922,640) discloses a collating machine having a traveling drum depository or bin.
Schulze et al. (U.S. patent No. 3,709,480), Post et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,802,694), Drexler et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,754), Lawrence (U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,459), Cross et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,769), Cross et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,977,667), Tusso et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,018), Cross et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,990,695), Tates (U.S. Pat. No. 4,204,727), Kamath et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,379), Breuers et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,995), Sterrett (U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,525), Kanek et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,344,614), Hatakeyama (U.S. Pat. No. 4,352,490), Burke (U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,572), Miyashita et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,323), Watanabe (U.S. Pat. No. 4,498,665), Masuda et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,458), Kasuya et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,593), and Takano (U.S. Pat. No. 4,578,582) disclose various sorting or collating devices, wherein the paper sheets are deposited into vertically-indexed, generally horizontal receiving trays.
Worswick (U.S. Pat. No. 2,919,917), Mitsumasu (U.S. Pat. No. 4,015,841), Maul (U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,861), and Altmann et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,542) disclose sorting or distributing devices having a means to horizontally transport paper sheets through the apparatus and deflect the sheets into horizontally-indexed, vertically inclined sorting or receiving bins. The transporting means include pinch rollers and/or conveyors. The deflecting means include a plurality of vanes which protrude out from within the conveyor, the combination of a plurality of gates and shutters, a plurality of routing flaps located below the transporting means, and the combination of a plurality of movable guide prawls. Altmann et al. ('542) teaches that a flow of air should hold the paper sheet against the lower face of the conveyor.
These disclosures are believed to illustrate the general scope of the prior art related to sorting equipment. The applicants submit that these disclosures, taken alone or together, do not teach the concepts embodied in this invention.